Hyde on possible roster moves, Straily on his struggles

OAKLAND - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde used the word "embarrassing" again to describe last night's 16-2 loss at Oakland and he said some changes could be coming when the Orioles play in Seattle starting tomorrow night.

"We have some potential roster moves coming in the next few days," Hyde said before today's game. "One, Smitty (Dwight Smith Jr.) probably will be there in Seattle. That went well in Scranton (in a rehab game last night). He felt good after the game. Smitty will be there and we have some pitching decisions to make. We'll probably have some moves in the next couple days."

For now the Orioles are clearly not inclined to call up a minor league pitcher before they deem him ready for the majors. So while there could be someone at Triple-A Norfolk or even Double-A Bowie that might be an upgrade from the current staff, they won't be rushed here because the major league club is struggling.

"We're committed to what's the right thing organizationally for our players," said Hyde. "And that's not to rush anybody to try to help out our situation here. It's going to take time, right. We have some guys that we like in the lower levels where it's not fair to them or to anybody else to rush them here when we don't feel like they're ready. Unfortunately, we just don't have a ton of depth at the upper levels. We're just not there yet.

"Like I said last night, I'm looking forward to the day two or three years from now when we have waves of guys knocking at the door who have talent - impact guys with stuff. We're not there yet, so we have what we have."

Hyde has been more critical of his club in recent days and their current losing streak has reached seven. He said today it was not easy for him to sleep after last night's debacle.

"There are some nights that I do (sleep well). There are some that I don't. I'm going through this for the first time also. Last night I didn't sleep well. I know our situation. I know where we are. I know how short we are in so many areas. I can handle when we give a great effort and we're just not talented enough or we just can't execute because we're not good enough at times.

"I want our team to be competitive and I think we've done that a lot of games this year, where we've lost a lot of tight games because some teams are just a little bit more talented than we are. But I didn't like the taste of last night's loss. That didn't sit well with me. There were a couple games against Boston that did not as well."

Straily's take: Right-hander Dan Straily's latest poor outing came last night against Oakland. He gave up three homers and six runs over 2 1/3 innings. He is 2-4 with a 9.82 ERA and has allowed 22 homers over 47 2/3 innings. Over his past two games he has allowed 13 runs and seven homers in 3 2/3 innings.

"As a professional it's your job to keep working and figure out how to fix it and that's where I'm at now," said Straily this morning. "Been a very frustrating month and a half or so. You are just always trying to fix it. Been working on adjustments all the time.

"I went from the worst outing of my career last week to the second worst this week. You just have to keep working, that is what professionals do."

But will he be allowed to keep working? Straily is obviously aware his roster spot is shaky at best right now.

"That stuff, you can't control that," he said. "We are just working and we all want to be here. Those things - they take care of themselves. If we are not getting the job done, they are going to try find someone that is.

"This has been the most trying season of my career. Especially mentally. Just trying to wrap my head around what is going on. A lot of it just doesn't make sense to me. It is very confusing."

Straily contends his health is not the issue.

"I mean, it's getting close to midsummer. I don't know if anyone in this room is close to 100 percent healthy, but you know, obviously I'm not going to take the field if we are not able to perform our duties," he said.